#also should probably expand to other crews but

[andorshitdaily]

The long-awaited, triumphant return of Incorrect Aldhani

[sillybond]

As a send of here's my compilation of every detail/gag or pretty much everything that I loved about the Fionna and Cake finale.

First off, the lighthearded stuff.

First of all. That's Hunter!!! We finally get to see HW gender-swapped counterpart's design. Gotta say I love that they kept it the same, it does feel like it could fit anyone.

Talking about him, I LOVE that they are finally adding him to the gang. I didn't expect him to be so prevalent in the finale, but I couldn't be happier! It seems like the crew has finnaly learned to apreciate HW and they are inserting her (even if it's Hunter) whenever they can.

All the raw emotion of the lich would have been unheard of at any other point in AT's history. The depression and hopelessnes, such human emotions were amazing to explore in him. He poses himself as a "ceesless weel" a god-like beeing of pure destruction, but even he neels when he realices it was all for nothing.

For some time I theorized that Golb (and subsequently Golbetty) was, in fact, Scarabs and Prismo's Boss. Kind of like a ultimate deity, high up on the pantheon. But seeing how Scarab adresses her in such a careles way, emphasizing that she should "stay out of this" made me think about the real power dinamic between thees two. And thus, of the whole multiverse bureocracy.

This tittle card rips me apart. It's briming with thematic importance. But I feel so many emotions simply beacuse it says cheers, it's like a send-off, a happy cheerfull goodbye to all of us who enjoyed this show. It made me tear up a bit when I first saw it.

For thoose who aren't aware Pawn Swan's was created by Steven Wolfhard after CAWM alongside the pup kingdom. He has in his tumblr a gigantic amount of lore about it. I'm sooo happy they finally got to use his ideas and designs. Many of the pups seen all trought Shermy and Beth's sequence were in his drawings too. So go check that out!

I'm a complete sucker for happy endings and THIS was PERFECTION. I simply connot describe how much I obsolutely LOVE that they are able to comunicate and talk. it's just perfect, this show has me spoiled-rotten.

In pure Marceline fashion Marshal tries playing another song. And Gary is soo into this man it's unreal

But, also in pure Marceline fashion, he gets interupted. It kind of reminded me about Marceline's song to Bonny in Obsidian. But it's kind of the oposite outcome, Scarab isn't affected by it at all while Glorbo is finaly delt with.

Talking about Simon being happy. I'm just so glad that he has been able to reconect with Astrid!!! This man is such a DAD, I love him :,)

Before Fionna's world was finaly canonized we can see that it really just amounts to the city. Which makes sense because if you are trying to put a whole world in a dude's head, you are going to have to cut some stuff out.

Anyways, after they are made legit we can see that the city has expanded! And I also assume that now there's not only a city, but a whole world too!!

This really came as a surprise honeslty, but a welcomed one at that. I assume that since Jay agrees to stay in the city, even if it's not forever, Farmworld Finn must be fine. It doesn't make any sense for him to drop his 4 little brothers just to screw around in another universe.

The only sad part is that, since we don't see neither PB nor Marcy in the tank that means they are probably dead. In the end it does seem like they took eachothers life, together.

Now onto the heavy stuff!

"This is the world we want to fight for. The Scarab is kind of invincible. But we won't give up. If we die, we'll die together, as ourselves"

This cuts deep. At this moment Fionna was ready to die. She acknowledges that she had tried everything she could and that, in a way, it was her fault. But she also understands that this is what it is. And she's ready to depart. In what she thought were her last moments she found happines in thoose and that around her. Magic or not, they were all together, and that's what mattered.

"We made our choices. We could have made better ones, but I don't have any regrets. You were a wonderful experience"

We knew Simon had wronged Betty. She had put away everything for him. He didn't do it on porpuse, but he recognised he could have been more thoughtful. In the end, while Simon acknowledges his mistakes Betty doesn't demonise neither him nor the relationship that came bacuse of it. It's a very sentimental, heartfelt conclusion.

As humans we often try to make our best to navigate life. But with all the choices in front of us it's very hard to get it right. A lot of time might have to pass before we truly see how wrong we were. We realize that we hurt people, and that things didn't have to be this way. But once we acknowledge this we can finaly move on. At this moment, Simon realizes that it's okay to fail but, unfortunetly, we can't go back. We have to live with it and it can't prevent us from moving forward.

In the end all we can do is have compassion for ourselves, and for each other.

That was pretty much all of the details and highlights for me. There's some other ones but they are kind of too obvious to point out.

Thanks a lot for reading the whole thing! It means a lot :)

[dealingdreams]

The more I think about the decision to not move forward with a season two of the Acolyte the angrier I get. I truly believe this decision will bite Lucasfilm on the ass. It's an incredibly bad decision.

Cause listen it's not even entirely about the show itself. Do I in general think the show deserved a season two?? Yes, I adore the show, I adore Osha and Qimir...I'm so interested in seeing where there story goes...so for personal reasons I want a season two. However, it's not just about the show but the precedent this sets.

There is only so far nostalgia can get you. Lucasfilm can only eat it's own ass for so long before there is nothing left. Every current live action project in production or upcoming project, aside from skeleton crew, has a connection to a legacy character, has a character or characters previously established in a TV show or film, and/or has a character we've already seen die on screen. All of these projects including Skeleton Crew are set in roughly the same time period. We are talking about a galaxy far far away and we've barely been able to explore it.

Every recent project that as tried to do something new, tried to expand the universe, expand or re-canonize lore from legends, add new characters, more diversity, or give us a new perspective or point of view has been backtracked, retconed, or thrown away in the most disrespectful way possible.

I was raised with Star wars I want it to succeed but when it refused to standbye its projects, refuses to support or protect it's cast members, honestly I'll add in that they also don't protect fans trying to genuinely engage with their content in a positive way by not moderating their comment sections...what precedent does that set?

Because regardless of if this is Lucasfilms intention or not this decision feels like its catering to a rather loud horrid group of 'fans'. 'fans' who dont want star wars to succeed unless it's done in the way they want but the thing that is so batshit to me about that is obviously these people don't even fucking understand what Star Wars is about in the first place. Again got to make it clear this isn't directed at people that don't like the show and are normal about it, but directed at the people that are continuously harassing the cast but especially Amandla. People that are celebrating the cancellation. Everyone should have a story wars project that makes them feel represented. You aren't loosing anything by a show you don't like still existing it is literally as simple as not watching it.

And on a personal note...as someone who has loved this franchise, who loves the lore, and the universe what incentive to I have to continue engaging in their productions? All the stories I love are done...The Clone Wars, Rebels, Rogue One, The Last Jedi, and now The Acolyte are done...so what's left but cgi Luke Skywalker? I will be watching skeleton crew simply cause I'm concerned for those kids so would like to engage with it in an informed way but other than that me and star wars are probably gonna take another 4 year break.

[magpod-confessions]

the thing about literary analysis and media criticism is that everything is fair game AND sometimes things aren't that deep. someone could write an impassioned , thoughtful meta about Needles but he's still gonna be a Funny Little Guy, horrible edition. but: maybe the meta writer wants to explore body horror vs bodily autonomy and the role of piercings in individual queer empowerment narratives, and they give it some thought and say 'this is a way Needles can be read.' and that's legit!

there's also a difference between listening to magnus like it's a story and listening to magnus like it's a puzzle. it's really apparent in how much tmagp meta reads like a continuation of the ARG: people making spreadsheets and notes and figurative (perhaps literal?) red string boards (which is also a thing people liked to do while tma was airing, too, i'm not trying to point fingers at protocol in particular). the coffee/tea people say that the oiar crew's hot beverage of choice symbolises their ties to either protocol-verse or archives-verse, but what a lot of them seem to mean is not that coffee/tea are symbols, but that they're *clues.* (personally I don't think it's either, but am prepared to be wrong about this.) because tmagp is still so new, too, it's harder to understand if/how it's operating on an overarching thematic level; we can't see the forest because the trees are still saplings.

when people say things like "the fears are capitalism," I mean. the fears are a pretty good allegory for the systems of power and oppression that, in their avarice, seek endless and complete consumption of the very resources (people) that keep them alive. the web is a great image for the inconceivably complex systems that surround and entrap us, whether we're a fly or a society. at the same time, the fears/the fear entity is literally an extradimensional force beyond human comprehension that must feed off the terror of other living beings and seeks to expand its reach across the multiverse. the fears are also scary because being trapped in a cave is scary, and the endless void of space is scary, and clowns are scary, y'know?

so I think my hot take is that critical engagement with media and textual analysis and interpretation and meta of all kinds is fun and rewarding, but that while stories generally have literal meanings (they've got a plot, they've got characters, things occur), they don't tend to produce clean solutions. if the magnus archives were two sentences long ("exploitation is bad and we are probably mostly doomed. you should still try I guess, and also care about people," for example) it would be a lot less memorable!

.

[ell0ra-br3kk3r-writes]

The Phoenix and the Crow

part thirty-one

pairing: kaz brekker x fem!reader

genre: neutral with a angsty underlining

el's thoughts: i'm back to writing again! hope yall like itttt

masterlist

“Thank the Saints, Djel, and your Aunt Eva,” Jesper said gratefully and slid down the rope, followed by the others.

The roof of the embassy was curved, probably to keep the snow off, but it was a bit like walking on the humped back of an enormous whale. It was also decidedly more… porous than the prison roof. It was pocked with multiple points of entry—vents, chimneys, and small glass domes designed to let light in. Nina and Inej were tucked up against the base of the biggest dome, a filigree skylight from the dwindling rain, but should any of the guards on the ring wall turn their attention away from the approach road and onto the rooftops of the Court, the crew would be hidden from view.

Nina had Inej’s feet in her lap.

“I can’t get all the rubber off her heels,” she said, as she saw them approaching.

“Help her,” said Kaz.

“Right,” Jesper said as he crawled over to get a better look at Inej’s blistered feet. “Saints,” he muttered.

Inej grimaced. “That bad?”

“No, you just have really ugly feet.”

“Ugly feet that got you on this roof.”

“But are we stuck?” Y/N asked. The Elderclock ceased its ringing, and in the silence that followed, she shut her eyes in relief. “Finally.”

“What happened at the prison?” Wylan said, that panicked crackle back in his voice. Jesper gave him a quick reassuring glance. “What triggered the alarm?”

“I ran into two guards,” said Nina.

Jesper looked up from his work again. “You didn’t put them down?”

“I did. But one of them got off a few shots. Another guard came running. That was when the bells started.”

“Damn. So that’s what set off the alarm?”

“Maybe,” said Nina. “Where were you, Kaz? I wouldn’t have been in the stairwell if I hadn’t wasted time looking for you. Why didn’t you meet me on the landing?”

Kaz was peering down through the glass of the dome. “I decided to search the cells on the fifth floor, too.”

They all stared at him. Y/N felt frustration bubbling up in her chest.

“What the hell is this?” Jesper said. “You take off before Matthias and I got back, then decide to expand your search and leave Nina thinking you’re in trouble?”

“There was something I needed to take care of.”

“Not good enough.”

“I had a hunch,” Kaz said. “I followed it.”

Y/N’s expression was pure disbelief. “A hunch?”

“I made a mistake,” growled Kaz. “All right?”

“No,” she fired back. “You owe us an explanation.”

After a moment, Kaz said, “I went looking for Pekka Rollins.” A look passed between Kaz and Y/N. Everyone else shared a look as Kaz cleared his throat. “I screwed up. I made a bad call, and I deserve the blame for it. But that doesn’t change our situation.”

“What is our situation?” Nina asked Matthias. “What will they do now?”

“The alarm was Yellow Protocol, a sector disturbance.”

Jesper pushed at his temples. “I don’t even remember what that means.”

“My guess is that they think someone’s attempting a prison break. That sector is already sealed off from the rest of the Ice Court, so they’ll authorize a search, probably try to figure out who’s mission from the cells.”

“They’ll find the people we knocked out in the women’s and men’s holding areas,” said Wylan. “we need to get out of here. Forget Bo Yul-Batur.”

Y/N waved a dismissive hand through the air. “It’s too late. If the guards think there is a prison break in progress, the checkpoints will be on high alert. Right?” she looked to Matthias in a quick question. “They’re not going to let anyone just walk through.”

“We could still try,” said Jesper. “We get Inej’s feet patched up-”

She flexed them, then stood, testing her bare soles on the gravel. “They feel all right. My calluses are gone, though.”

“I’ll give you an address where you can mail your complaints,” Nina said with a wink.

“Okay, the Wraith is ambulatory,” Jesper said, rubbing a sleeve over his damp face. The rain had faded away to a light mist. “We find a cozy room to bash some partygoers on the head and waltz out of this place decked in their finest.”

“Past the embassy gate and two checkpoints?” Matthias said skeptically.

“They don’t know anyone escaped the prison sector. They saw Nina and Kaz so they know people are out of their cells, but the guards at the checkpoints are going to be looking for hoodlums in prison clothes…” Jesper’s voice faded to a buzz in Y/N’s ears.

She came on an assignment. A world-changing substance was out here somewhere and if it were to get into the wrong hands, it could reach and poison all Grisha. She had a duty to her people and fellow brothers and sisters. If she were to get caught then she would be caught trying to finish the mission. If she were to die then she would die on her feet as a Ravkan soldier.

“Forget it,” she said. “I came here to find Bo Yul-Bayur, and I’m not leaving without him.”“What’s the point?” said Wylan as he watched the Inferni with concern. “Even if you manage to get to the White Island and find Yul-Bayur, we’ll have no way out. Jesper’s right: We should go now while we still have a chance.”

“You are more than welcome to leave if you see it best. I came here with an assignment and I intend to see it through, even if it means I have to cross to the White Island alone. I will.”

“That may not be an option,” said Matthias causing her to turn her sharp gaze in his direction. “Look.”

They gathered around the base of the glass dome. The rotunda below was a mass of people, drinking, laughing, greeting each other, a kind of raucous party before the celebrations on the White Island.

As they watched, a group of new guards pushed into the room, trying to form the crowd into lines.

“They’re adding another checkpoint,” Matthias said. “They’re going to review everyone’s identification again before they allow people access to the glass bridge.”

“Because of Yellow Protocol?” asked Jesper.

“Probably. A precaution.”

It was like seeing the last bit of their luck drain from a glass.

“Then that decides it,” said Jesper. “We cut our losses and try to get out now.”

“I know a way,” Inej said quietly. They all turned to look at her. The yellow light from the dome pooled in her dark eyes. “We can get through that checkpoint and onto the White Island.” She pointed below to where two groups of people had entered the rotunda from the gatehouse courtyard and were shaking the mist from their clothes. The girls from the House of the Blue Iris were easily identified by the color of their gowns and the flowers displayed in their hair and at their necklines. There was another pleasure house that took Y/N a moment to recognize. It was a house located in Shu Han that Y/N had business with years back.

“I have a friend whom I met briefly while traveling with Sturmhond. She could help us get inside.”

“Inej-” Kaz started.

The Suli quickly interrupted him. “I can get two of us in for sure.”

The guys shared a silent look of hesitation while the girls wordlessly discussed who would go.

Nina spoke up, “I’ll go with Inej.”

Matthias had opened his mouth to argue but Y/N cut him off. “That’d be the smartest choice, a Heartrender would be a better fit than an Inferni. It’s likely you both would need a bit of tailoring as well…” She trailed off as she continued to observe the swarm of people below.

Inej nodded, “Then it’s settled. We go in with the pleasure houses.”

~*~

taglist: @katherinereid @littlecat21 @jahayla-parker @maliciousbrekker @brekkershadowsinger @brekkers-desigirl @clunaes @wonderland2425 @bookloverfilmoholic @karensirkobabes @bookworm-center @el-de-phi @so-get-this-sammy @skittleabyss @crispy-croke @cometsghost @auttumnsayshi

[itzrafee]

One Piece Chapter Discussion (Chapter 1126)

Ooh looks like the mystery continues with Yamato investigating the disappearances. I am so curious to see what kind of long lasting effects this will have as with this chapter we’re getting some resolution on a six to seven year old cover story. It’s nice to see Oda expanding on the story around Wano as it’s clear he had a lot of thoughts around it when he was writing it that he didn’t get to explore. I’m also quite curious as to what will happen with the cover stories the closer we get to the end. Whereas he has space to explore other facets of Wano through the cover story, is that something he’ll be able to do with Elbaph with it being so close to the end? Anyways, the rest of the discussion, which is spoiler filled, can be found below the cut!

I don’t know about y’all but I think it would be absolutely terrifying to be where the Straw Hats are in this first page if they weren’t allies with the giants. They straight up just kinda look like their dinner. But we’re not talking about Big Mom so I think the Straw Hats are probably safe. Also while somewhat terrifying, the designs of the Giants are great, they all ooze personality and joviality. I would not want to see them angry either. It’s interesting that the name of the absinthe they’re drinking is the “Green Fairy” and that it can cause hallucinations. Is that just set up to explain how and why the two parties got separated or is it set up for some absinthe-driven hallucinations? 

It’s interesting to me on a story structure level that this chapter kind of illustrates how Oda might have to delve into more slice of life stuff with the crew going forward. That before making this chapter important by flitting around the world and getting updates, Oda first spends some time with the crew just having fun and goofing off. It satisfies the pre-timeskip crowd clamoring for these types of scenes, me among that crowd.

This small sequence with Bonney also gets me right in the heart. Not only does she feel comfortable enough to finally be a child and not put on the airs of a grown adult that the One Piece world requires of people but also she gets to finally be free with her father. One Piece has this startling quality to it that makes the reality of war and oppression so real by contrasting the comedic with the emotional. And nothing hits quite as hard as the fate of the children of this series. We see through the suffering of the Straw Hats as children, Nami, Sanji, and Robin, among a few other characters throughout the series, on how oppression forces you to grow up and be stronger than any child should have to be. In recent arcs that oppression is a reality our young adult Straw Hats face head on. From Otama and Toko in Wano to the metaphors of growing up too fast that Bonney and Momo face us with, Oda is able to use these fantastical elements to deliver truths in more digestible ways. The tragedy of Momo and Bonney having to grow up so fast is such a potent and heart wrenching way to show this side of opression. But Oda is able to provide us with a catharsis that the real world so often denies by having Bonney feel safe again. By having Momo be safe and surrounded by loved ones.

Moving on from that dour and entirely too real note, we finally get a resolution on a cover story from wayyyy long ago where Bartolomeo burned down Shanks flag in Luffy’s name. And there’s a lot to talk about here. For such a fan-favourite and an audience surrogate for many, including myself, It’s odd that it’s been so long since we’ve seen Barto(don’t even get me started on Bon Clay!!). But it’s interesting that Oda seems to understand his impact as it seems like he’s being placed on the same level as Kid and Law in a way. Now this might be a little tin foil hatty of me but don’t you find it odd that Kid, Law, and Barto, all devil fruit users by the way, were all sunk at sea in the New World, the most dangerous sea maybe aside from the Calm Belt? 

And if we remember certain man with a burn scar who was first mentioned in chapter 1056(56=GoMu) and then again brought up in 1081 where it was mentioned that anyone who comes close to him gets swallowed up by whirlpools, I think we might have an option for what might’ve happened to those three. Adding on to that, if we go allll the way back to chapter 2 and full tin foil hat, we can see Luffy getting sucked into a whirlpool soon after he sets out on his journey but then bursting out of a barrel sometime after with Koby. In my head, I can totally see the aforementioned three joining Luffy on Elbaph, especially now that’s been separated from his crew. Maybe Luffy was also kidnapped by this whirlpool wielding man with a burn scar…again.

Okay, fanciful thinking aside we still gotta talk about how we’ve seen Shank’s main crew be ruthless badasses. Lucky Roux in Chapter 1 straight killed a dude while the whole crew laughed. Benn Beckman not only threatened Kizaru but also cut off Kid’s arm. And here, Yassop basically has a cannon attached to his gun and blows up a fleeing Barto Club. While these guys may seem easygoing, they’re still stone cold pirates. Also that ultimatum with the poison was pretty cold too. Barto’s ship blowing up also shows how lethal Yassop’s Haki must be, because I can imagine that Barto might’ve tried to shield his ship with his devil fruit.

I find it curious that Koby was so important to Blackbeard’s plans. I wonder if Blackbeard wanted to use Koby like how the Marines used Ace? We know how much Blackbeard’s plans mean to him. His scheming, though a lot of the time quite impromptu, is half the reason he’s an emperor already. And Blackbeard is in prime position to execute some big time operations. Not only does he have leverage in Garp(though thinking about it, wouldn’t the marines be glad to be rid of him?), he also has Pudding and all the knowledge Caribou brings. Oda makes it a point to show that Caribou has finally gotten to Blackbeard. It’s interesting that he’s surveilling the Revolutionary's too. Especially with Lafitte. Maybe he’s trying to get the heat off of himself by having Lafitte do some undercover hits and then blame it on the Revo’s?

Though, weirdly, the most important tidbit here to me is that Moria got away. It seems most likely that Moria will join Cross Guild as it seems to be the place for Warlord Alumni and Perona already has connections there in the form of Mihawk. I’d originally thought that Blackbeard was going to get Moria to reanimate Kaido, Big Mom, and Garp’s corpses with the obstacle standing in their way being that Blackbeard was responsible for Absolams death but now it seems like Moria’s going to be a player for Cross Guild, with at least the Yonkou resurrections still on the table. Also if Cross Guild is the place to be for former Warlords then we could see Boa join too. And maybe even Kuma and Doflamingo if the latter breaks out of Impel Down. Which I kinda hope he does just purely due to the fact that it might provide a path for Bon Clay to get out too.

This scene with Bonney and Jinbei is adorable but uhh, what’s Lilith staring at? Could she be communicating with Vegapunk?

Finally, in the last page we get some weird shenanigans happening. First, someone wakes Nami up but it appears that she’s alone. She’s had a change of clothes and seems to be in a lego house. The floor is kind of undeniable proof of that even if you want to try and explain away everything else. And finally, she seems to be alone. The going theory seems to be that this is Prince Loki’s lego house and that he’s playing with the StrawHats like toys. He could’ve been the one to call out for Nami. He could be a fan of the StrawHats. And honestly, that theory kinda makes sense, I totally subscribe to it. Loki could be a somewhat petulant giant like Big Mom. I also don’t think the impatient figure at the end of 1124 is him either as that seemed to be a human who was drinking, my going theory about that person being that it was Scopper Gaban, the third crew member of the Roger Pirates after Roger and Rayliegh. See ya next week!

[the-wolfbats]

Thoughts on the Redwall Series overall 

What started as a walk down memory lane ended up being a multi month reading project. With notes!

A lot of how these books are stereotyped is not true. Only a handful of them end in Babies Ever After. There may be a riddle or a poem but it's not taking up most of the story.

The lack of immediate continuity after book 6 is a little sad but it gives a real sense of time to things, which I like. The Lord of Mossflower exists in Mattimeo, but hundreds of years later in Loamhedge, it doesn't. Brockhall is rediscovered twice! That’s kind of what I liked about Mistmantle, it was only 5 books but there were enough characters that yes, some became parents, but the young ones didn’t. It’s only at the end of the series where some even get married, and it’s not EVERY animal.

Until I reread these, I didn't look at these from the point of anti-colonialization. But, yeah it's THE recurring theme.   

colonizers (vermin) are harassing the people who already live there. Who are native to the land. They're trying to enslave or kill them.  

They're trying to take over either redwall, or mossflower, or basically any place mentioned. 

There is a minor fighting force but the majority just want to chill. A few outliers exist because they've lost families or communities. And they get stopped. This book series is essentially a minimally colonized world.

 Green Isle is a colonized area where the indigenous population fights back and eventually succeeds. Mossflower is eventually freed from the Greeneyes. 

Rhulain and Taggerung come at this from different angles, and while both are hampered by the series structure a bit, enough good shines through. (I lurked the r/Redwall subreddit and a lot of people seem to dislike Taggerung, maybe they were thinking about it from my angle initially - see my thoughts on Taggerung post in my Redwall tag for how my mind was changed).

There's also the heavy religion (Western Christianity) parallels which is why so many conservative kids and young adults attached themselves to this series. And yet they miss major parts of the entire concept. Ah well. 

 I did find it tiresome that as soon as a maid is mentioned to be pretty she's going to be the wife of the male protagonist. They all prove capable and varied but the immediate reaction of pretty is tiring. Note how Mariel is never referred to as pretty by Dandin, and they don't get married but remain partners presumably through their lives. Doomwyte is terrible about this. Come to think of it, Rogue Crew is like a homage but is done much better than Doomwyte, and it works on expanding the world in ways  we never get to see officially :( Maybe we should work on it ourselves. We could do that.

While the squirrels have no subculture, the shrews only have a subculture (arguably two worth pygmy shrews) There's not lone shrews simply existing outside of Redwall or the Guosim. 

Any headcanons about things in story?

I choose to believe Martha spent a time as Abbess after Fenna died. She would be the only noted hare ruler of Redwall. 

There was a squirrel society in Mossflower but it eventually migrated to the area where Sunflash and Skarlath stayed the winter with the mole and hedgehog families.

What books were your favorite?

I've ranked them in groups of 5 of published order (or in the case of the last 2, just 2.) 

*Lord Brocktree was my favorite as a child and frankly it’s still enjoyable. I won't include it in any ranking to keep it fair. 

The Pleasant Surprises

Loamhedge (probably bc I listened to the audiobook. I liked how there was quite a mournful tone throughout, from going to a place full of life to a dead Abbey.)

Eulalia!

The Long Patrol

Martin The Warrior (while it felt a bit long, it was so nice to see a different side of the continent. It wasn't just Mossflower.)

Taggerung.

The Rogue Crew

Side note; I’d love to see someone superimpose the map of some of the books on others. Like where did Martin wander in his book with Grumm, the hedgehog, and Rose compared to the Patrol in The Rogue Crew? He was born on the northern shores - are they the same shores as the Crew? 

The Disappointments

High Rhulain - It’s just not interesting outside of what Green Isle existing implies.

Mariel of Redwall - I think he got better at writing female characters, and it’s not as if Mariel is awful - she’s fairly well rounded, being headstrong and angry as well as needing support - her personality is just kind of There.

Half of the Bellmaker. The part with Southward is dull as dishwater the part with the seafaring is almost enjoyable. The Redwall part is, oddly, the best part.

The one with more than meets the eye lorewise 

High Rhulain 

The one with the best songs 

Loamhedge (the spring song)

High Rhulain (the honeybee song and the calling of the clans)

Marlfox (Mother Nature Dear)

The Long Patrol (over the hills)

Lord Brocktree (a hare is a marvelous creature)

The Rogue Crew (The song Lancejack Sage sings at the funeral)

The best

Mice: Rose, Lycian, Nimbalo

Hare: Maudie, Dottie, Boorab, Martha, Rockjaw

Squirrels: Fwirl, Song, Doogy 

Shrews: Basically all of ‘em, if I had to name one, Flib, if I had to name two, Dandy

Moles: again, most of ‘em. Though it’s funny how they’re championed as beings with good sense, but apparently not good enough sense to ever be elected as Abbott or Abbess.

Hedgehogs: The family of theatrical troupe hedgehogs in Sable Quean, Tansy, Posy

Otter: Mhera, Kroova, Skor, Ruggan, and Swiffo

Birds: Orocca and Tauroc, any bird from the North, Rocangus and MacTalon

Moles: any of the mole Dibbuns. 

Badgers: Sunflash, Cregga, Brocktree 

Major antagonists: the fractured groups of the Juskarath, Tsarmina, Ungatt Trunn, Slagar, Raga Bol, Razzid Wearat.

There was probably going to be more but I got a concussion and forgot

[lostonehero]

Marius has a bad time or more new mechs and tma au stuff

Marius was rubbing his eyes. The pain was getting worse as they continued deeper into these tunnels. "Mr. Bouchard, I don't mean to sound rude, but how much farther?" He was incredibly uncomfortable, and his hair was threatening to move without his permission from the slick back position.

Elias looks back and smiles. "Not much further now, Marius. Now, the history of these tunnels goes back over 200 years. Created by Robert Smirke himself, now he was quite detail orientated if you knew him."

Marius nods. He doesn't really know how long humans live, but he knows how long Martin should live and that he wanted to expand that. He knew about the other species that his crew was made up of and what that meant. He probably should look more into humans for Martin's sake. "That's very interesting, sir." He barely could register the now open room they were in, let alone the mummified corpse.

"Now I normally don't have the choice in choosing my new body, the Beholder picks for me, and I wake up and move on. However, the situation has changed, and unfortunately, this body is on its last legs." Elias sighs.

Marius felt like his eyes were about to explode from pressure, and he barely registered that he was being spoken too.

"I'm having Peter take over in the meantime since you're so new to the institute. Elias was here for at least 3 years, but I can't be picky. Not when I'm getting so close and you just walked in. I really have to thank you, Marius." Elias hums softly. "Now, don't worry, you won't be left when I take over. I've heard death is quite peaceful."

Marius's vision went black as he collasped on the floor. He could feel a warm sticky liquid drip down his cheeks before sweet unconsciousness took over.

.......

Jonah opened his eyes with a sigh. "Not an enjoyable process being awake, but necessary for the situation." He walked over to the corpse on the floor and fished out his phone. He shudders, finally realizing his new body felt wrong on many different levels. He went to run a hand through his new hair and bit back a surprised yelp.

"Not human." Marius blearily blinked as he floated next to the man possessing his body. "Also, be gentle. My hair is very sensitive."

"You're still alive?" Jonah watches Marius float in front of him.

"Kind of comes with the territory. I wonder if you'll stick around if I get killed well, my body, at least." Marius scratches his chin. "I can't say I've been possessed before, and it's quite an odd feeling."

Jonah stumbles back and hits a wall with a new jolt of nerves he has no experience with. He goes up his spine. "What are you?"

Marius snickers. "Is this how Jonny felt watching me stumble around for the first hundred of years felt? Because if it is, then I get his humor." He smiles as he floats down to sit next to the man possessing his body. "I would take over, but seeing you flail around is way funnier. I'm not human, I'm not even from earth to be fair."

......

Jonny can feel his tail threaten to break his belt loops on his pants. He was annoyed the sun went down, and he was stuck waiting outside Elias's office waiting for Marius. This was incredibly frustrating. Why did he have to wait for him he's a grown ass man. He can take care of himself, and it's not like he could die.

Jonnys phone buzzed and he took it out to see a message from Martin

Martin: Is Marius out yet? I'm sorry I asked for you to wait. I'm making your favorite when you both get back. I even found some bad alien movies for this weekend for just us to enjoy. I mean, you don't have to. I know you might have other plans, and that's ok.

Jonny can feel his face heat up. Ok, he knows why he's doing it, and homemade dinner sounded amazing. He was never much of a cook unless you counted butchering an animal you kill and cooking it over an open flame proper dinner. Martin spoiled him, and he expected nothing in return it's the least he could do to wait for Marius. He knew Ashes had to drag Ivy out of the library because it's Friday night, and the building was closed for the weekend.

Jonny began to play with his phone before his ears twitched with a new noise in the air that he knew to be Marius laughing. He scowls, shoving his phone in his pocket. "Are you quite done wasting time?" His annoyed scowl dropped to a confused frown as he confronted Marius.

Marius looked disheveled, which he rarely was unless it was early morning or he just left Raphella lab. His tail was swaying lazily behind him, and his hair seemed to be stretching. His pointed ears, Martin like to call elf ears, were blue at the top to match his mood, which was happiness. "Jonny!"

"Please tell me you're drunk." Jonny pinched his brow and sighed. He would much rather prefer a drunk Marius to a sober one. It's much easier to get him to do things.

"I'm possessed!" Marius breaks down in giggles. "I know you can't see him, but his face when I slit my throat was priceless. Also, he stays after I die, which is a little annoying, but he had no idea I wasn't human." He starts to laugh harder. "So so Elias wasn't actually Elias it was this guy Jonah possessing his body, and he picked..." He composes himself the best he could without breaking down laughing again. "He picked me! To possess! I've got his eyes now."

Jonny raised his brow, but the gray eyes were definitely not Marius's, but they were in his head. "So you got a dead guy in you?"

"I have a guy scared to die in me." Marius breaks down laughing again.

Jonny snickers that turns to laughter and is very insane laughter. "Fucking scared to die? That's fucking hilarious. I I.... fuck me I'm texting the group chat."

.....

The less cool mech chat because Martin isn't here

Jonny: guys Marius has a dead guys eyes now

Ashes: like in his hands or...?

Raphella: did he get affected by one of the cursed books? I will run tests.

Tim: You've gotta be specific. TS is asking if it's the same guy who stole their vocal cords.

Jonny: Like in his skull.....

Jonny sends a picture of Marius purple face mid laughter and his eyes are clearly gray and not green anymore. His hair is pointed up straight, and his sharp teeth are on display. There's blood on his white shirt from an earlier slit throat.

Raphella: I would like to remove the eyes

Tim: dude what the fuck

Brian: Is there another doctor?

Jonny: so.....

Jonny puts in a audio message explaining the entire situation as Marius is giggling in the background adding details like the guys name is Jonah and he's nearly 300 years old and how he did this to serve his god.

Ivy: so can he get the keys and I can go to the library?

Ashes: no

Ivy: fuck you

Ashes: Martin wants you to join game night Sunday.

Ivy: that means Raphella cant drag Marius to her lab

Raphella: darling I have wendsday open for that

TS: Honorary Mechanism!

Jonny: mechanism plus one.

Ashes: sorry TS I'm with Jonny

TS: That Is OK We Have A New Friend

Marius: Jonah didn't belive in aliens.

Several people are typing

[cheolism]

Hiii I recently became a Carat and as an avid fanfic reader, I was wondering if there are any stories you can recommend!! I have no member preference, as long as there is an interesting story (longer the better, if there are chapters even better). And i love me a good smut 👀

hi sweetheart!! first and foremost, i recommend checking out the other authors of svthub. here you'll find a variety of svt writers!!! as of right now we're doing our spring collab, so def check that out!!! note that i only have a few members on here (gyu, joshie, hoshi, kwannie)? i didn't realize until i finished that i only had these four???? idk if this is my subconscious trying to tell me something but i'll continue to ignore it!!!

my personal faves are all reblogged under fic rec, but here's some that have stood out to me since reading~

spoiled by @wonusite ; KMG

"summary: you have never been spoiled, but that changes after you meet the man your mother is going to marry."

it's got four parts and is so fucking disgusting and wonderful it's ridiculous. it's seriously a marvel to humanity tbh and when aliens come and ask for a relic to prove that humans deserve to be spared from their alien wrath, i'll give them these fics <3

acouasm by @angelwoozi ; HJS

"n.) a ringing noise in your head — and it's just three words of promise whispered by yours truly during moments of sorrow, or moments of joy. the whisper also lives in the crevices of your mind during moments of pleasure, when he makes love to you, his true love."

it isn't necessarily long, but it is so fucking sweet and artful? in my tags i described it as truly belonging to the golden hour, and tbh i still stand by it. it's incredibly tender and freya's way with words reminds me of ancient greek and roman statues; there's an era in art called neoclassical, where artists mostly focus on depicting mythos and creatures from greek, roman, and christian lore. like, an angel with outstretched wings, her shawl expanding and wrapping around her, heaven's spotlight surrounding.

to the brim by @toruro ; KMG

"description: all your sweet husband wants is to put a baby into you—is that so bad?"

LISTEN mika writes some of the filthiest shit, i'm not even kidding. idk how her brain comes up with some of this stuff? somehow she KNOWS all of my deepest kinks and secrets and just writes them like they're NOTHING? truly a menace to society and we should all be on our knees thanking her.

bluff and nonsense by @thepixelelf ; KSY

"

“Soonyoung? Yeah I know him, you should too. He’s on the uni’s dance crew, and ever since he joined them, their popularity’s skyrocketed. I’ve met him a few times, great guy — got a tendency to run his mouth but hey, no one’s perfect. He’s smart anyways, probably knows how to deal with the consequences, right?”

or

Soonyoung never thought one bluff could lead to so much nonsense."

this fic fuckign RUINED ME. the others don't have as much plot as this, but even months after reading it still remains one of my favorite fics. i've been meaning to reread it? but i just haven't gotten to it, but i know i'll still feel the heartache and betrayal all over again, it's just that good. like it's so good you can feel the stabbing in your heart and tummy :(

vanilla by @milfgyuu ; HJS

"Summary: Joshua has a secret but perhaps it’s not really a secret at all. Maybe you’ve just refused to see it in an effort to keep your feelings at bay."

probably the dirtiest fic on this list. it's absolutely wild. there was NO preparing for everything in this fic? it's insane. absolutely insane fr. like -- even reading the tags can't prepare you. reader wasn't prepared and i really don't think ANYONE ever could have been.

stay-at-home husband/dad mingyu by @celestiababie

it's what it says! stay at home gyu who is willing to help his darling breadwinner spouse with whatever they need :) it's got multiple parts and such, and it's so cruel that it exists because it'll occupy my thoughts every once in a while and then i just have to stand there thinking about desperate little gyu whining while a teacher is talking. will change your life, 10/10 recommend

pussy sport by @duhnova ; BSK

"synopsis: leave it up to boo seungkwan to almost suffocate between your thighs, eat you out till you’re crying, and to figure out a new kink of his."

when i turn 108 and am getting ready to walk off the edge of the earth, and they ask me my secret to living so long i'll think back to this fic and smile, and then suddenly i'll be brought back to life. it's this serious. every once in a while someone on the svthub server remembers it exists again and goes feral. and i completely fucking agree, we should be going feral over boo seungkwan 24/7. to not be feral over boo seungkwan and this fic is a cardinal sin, and not the sexy kind.

[th3d0nutl0rd]

Cause no one cares about the new Captain America movie,not even the people involved with it. The cast & crew all know they're stuck making a bad movie. Barely anyone's hyped for it either. Look around,no one's even talking about the movie and already pretending like it doesn't exist. Everyone knows it's going to be terrible and will flop hard so let's be thankful Sebastian's not in it. It's only performative Tumblr that acts excited for it. Thunderbolts will also likely flop and Seb/Bucky will probably only have bit parts in it cause Marvel likes to waste him but at least,I still saw people excited for that. Not many tho,since most people also expect it'll do badly but the hype and anticipation for it still exists. But I scarce see any hype,excitements or talks at all about Cap 4. Hell,even on Tumblr,all the fangirlies are obviously more excited for Thunderbolts because of Bucky and even they couldn't hide that fact but then get mad at other people for not being excited for CA4 when they're not excited for it either. Like what I said,performative.

Here's the thing- if we DID create hype for cap4, it might enable marvel to break free of their repetitive writing cycle- instead of putting down writers who are being bled dry by massive corporations, we SHOULD be generating fandom excitement for these things, good or not. Sam's character can exist without Bucky. That's not my point here. Why bother to establish the events of FATWS if their relationship means nothing to the storyline- or to Sam's (and Bucky's) development as a character? Why have Bucky be an integral part of every captain America movie just to turn it around and decide he wasn't an important part of it? Plus, I'm immensely excited for Thunderbolts, not because of Bucky but because we have a chance for marvel to expand upon smaller characters we need to see more of. Besides, I'm a guy not some fangirl, but we should absolutely hand it to them. They're carrying the MCU on their backs, because they're the only ones keeping these movies afloat- why bother sending someone an anonymous ask just to put down their hype for a movie you're so obviously disinterested in.

[ultramanginger]

Alien vs Predator rewatch thoughts...

Since Romulus was coming out, I rewatched every Alien and Predator film in order and I offer a thought for each movie:

Alien (1979)

It's a classic that has some incredible ideas that are still scary and fascinating to this day, but...

Watching it in HD, it's hard to miss some really cringey moments, like the Alien jazz hands and the way that Lambert and Brett's death scenes are so similar that they use some of the footage shot for one for the other.

Not to mention, the more you read about the making of the film, the more you realise it being good was luck rather than skill, as so much of it was the way it was to keep costs down. A lot of what Scott would have done with more budget and freedom would have been just awful.

Still great, still a classic, but not even the best of the franchise, let alone reason to consider Scott the one to make Alien great again...

4 stars

Aliens (1986)

Perfect movie. No notes.

5 stars

Predator (1987)

Exceptional action movie and an exceptional scifi horror at the same time. Like Alien, it would have been terrible if not for blind luck. None of the pieces should have worked together, but somehow the whole ascended above the sum of the parts.

5 stars

Predator 2 (1990)

Much maligned and it is VERY 90s, not to mention it meanders around a lot of filler. Focus on the good parts, however, and there are great ideas and some great scenes. A worthy classic.

4 stars

Alien3 (1992)

The making of this movie is absolutely a better story than the plot. Taking a script about the devil on a wooden space station and turning it into a popcorn horror flick was impossible, even for Fincher, who still deserves credit for making something so incredibly fucking bleak. The effects don't hold up, the edit is a mess, but it's still watchable.

3.5 stars

Alien: Resurrection (1997)

Fuck Joss Whedon, but Resurrection is basically an early Firefly pilot and that works. Lots of people don't like the movie as they hate the characters, but they're no less deplorable than any of the other Alien crews.

Is it perfect? no, but this bizarre mix of Alien lore expanded in a crazy direction, Firefly, and French arthouse direction is a hell of a mash-up. Not only does it have some great ideas, but I genuinely enjoy it.

4 stars

Alien Vs Predator (2004)

Cheesy, slightly vacuous, unlikely to win cinematic plaudits, but completely terrible? Not at all.

Event Horizon showed that Anderson can do worthy movies (at least one), and this is not him at his best, but it's still very watchable.

3 stars

Alien Vs Predator: Requiem (2007)

It's obviously not defensible. This movie is trash, but it's probably not as bad as you remember. There are some fun ideas executed passably. There are also some terrible ideas executed poorly. The attempt to do Alien and Predator as a teen horror movie is actually kinda interesting, even if there was no way it would ever work.

2.5 stars

Predators (2010)

Such casual misogyny. Like... so much...

Aside from that, this is pretty good. It still has that classic Alien and Predator luck that salvaged some garbage script ideas (drunk predator motorbike gang?), but overall it does feel more like a fun non-canon EU novel rather than an actual part of the franchise.

Prometheus (2012)

3.5 stars

I went on a journey with Prometheus over the years:

It's a fucking terrible Alien move

Actually, it's not a bad cheesy scifi horror if you pretend it's not an Alien movie

Actually, no, it's still a shit scifi horror, it's just a better scifi horror than it is an Alien movie

Please, someone take Alien away from Scott and send him home?

2.5 stars

Alien: Covenant (2017)

So, Scott started off like:

"No-one cares about the Alien! Let's give them a movie about mental pseudo-archeology that pretends to be an Alien movie!"

With this movie, he was like:

"Sulk. Fine, I guess people like Alien, but lets put Aliens in my mental pseudo-archeology movie so I don't have to admit it sucked!"

It still sucks and this weird hybrid mess is even worse than his straight mental pseudo-archeology movie.

Not to mention, why did they finally let him do Alien sex, even if it was just watching? Please keep him away from these movies!

2 stars

The Predator (2018)

Woof. I thought Predators was offensive.

How a man with Tourettes can make a character with Tourettes feel inauthentic and offensive, I don't know, but Black managed it.

This had so much potential with Shane Black writing and the cast and the budget, but it's just total crap. Yes, they completely reshot the ending, but even the original ending sounds bad.

2.5 stars

Prey (2022)

Just a complete joy. This is all I want from a Predator movie and movies in general. That this not getting a cinematic release put people off is ridiculous. Go watch it.

5 stars

Alien: Romulus (2024)

Attempting to connect Alien with Prometheus in the final act was stupid enough to put people off a movie they admit was otherwise perfect. This shows just how bad Prometheus was and why Scott needs to go.

Yes, the final threat is not ideal and no-one wanted a reference to Prometheus other than Scott, but this movie is otherwise so good that you HAVE to forgive that, particularly if it spawns a new franchise of good Alien movies without Scott.

5 stars

[spacetrails]

Final Prep

Organizing my room more, I gave one last look around; my bed now looked like a bed, the sheets were fixed, posters set up, knickknacks placed, window to infinite starry abyss cleaned, and table organized. A search around made a wall panel open, revealing a bathroom “Oh, well that’s one question answered.” Closing the panel I looked to the door as my stomach rumbled “I probably should eat.” Words grumbled just as loud as my stomach made my decision.

The door slid open, as I poked my head out; A look down left showed the path leading towards the divide, while the right headed to the middle of the ship, yet it was empty both ways. Muffled sounds silenced as I stepped out, the hum of the ship deafening anything else as another quick scan was made, still no one.

The door closed as I stepped away, walking ahead to what I hoped was a kitchen, the area expanded into a cubed shape; the wide table surrounded with ten chairs sat in the middle of the room, left showed the ship's entrance and right held a circular window. Properly walking into the room my eyes marked the two panels, my translator gave a small blip as muffled sounds picked up behind me, and my hand briefly held the back of a chair turning me as I continued straight towards them.

The first panel itself hung from the wall at waist height, scaling up to chest height, it was blank and seemed to be off; the second was more a window than panel, it was the same height as the first but sunk into the wall by a few inches, split into four compartments, and had a white background.

Unsure what to do I placed my hand on the dark panel, it was cold to the touch and lit up after a few seconds, a small hum sounded as I moved my hand back, the words ‘HELLO USER Lawrence PLEASE SELECT PREFERENCES’ sounded lightly on my translator, as they were typed up on the screen accompanied with various food types.

Glossing through all option I scanned the different species types, each with their own food groups, substitutes, allergies, necessities, and vitamin options to add or remove “Huh, neat.” I quietly called, choosing the human option for now, searching through the many meat choices first “I don’t know whether to be happy or afraid that fast food options are a choice. I’ll just try some lamb, see how it compares.”

Words mumbled out as I clicked on veggies “Get that broc, that pot, that rot, that arti, that coli, that g-been, that fungi, that sweet p, tha-” My hand halted “-Hmmm, that is a lot of food. Is it too much? I should probably cut back. Or, I can keep it, and just get seconds later? Am I allowed seconds?” Questions rambled as I looked about, concerned over my choices, a sigh and grumble as eyes relocked back on the panel “It’s food, on the ship I’m in, for the crew I’m in. I can eat it, the panel told me so.” My hand clicked the parsnip selecting the end of my choice

‘DO YOU CONFIRM?’ Thinking I looked at the second panel, clicking yes as the first panel beeped ‘PLEASE CHOOSE FINAL PREFERENCES.’ Looking at the options I choose thigh cut, seared style, and steamed for all veggies. Stepping over I listened to the second panel hum louder, a few seconds passed before the top compartment rotated, my lamb laid perfectly cooked and steaming as a plate raised, it slid open as I took the plate setting it on the table. Turning back in time for the second compartment to spin, all the veggies laid encircling the other in various cut slices and steaming, a larger plate rose as it opened, once I took it the third compartment spun, showing two sets of forks and knives that I also took.

Placing everything on the table I looked around at the empty room, eyes staring back down to the table “What am I missing? I have the food, and I- Oh right, a no drink.” Words cut off as I turned, tapping the screen as it reopened to a drinks sections “Ah, it’s been human tested. That’s good.” Joking as I thumbed through, glancing at the options from water to fizzy drinks, with various hot and cold weather drinks in between, uncaring I choose water watching the fourth panel turn just a second after. Finally sitting down I took a bite, it tasted generally bland, but still held the fresh meaty texture; the vegetables seemed the same, all bland but still fresh and nice to eat. Sitting around I waited, unsure what to do ‘We are close to landing, so we probably have a protocol? Right?’

Glancing about no sound were made, only the hum of the ship filling the silence between bites; looking out the window stars continued to scatter by, splattered through the voidful oasis ‘Someone’s going to explain something eventually, just have to wait until they step out and give a debriefing? Right?’ drinking my water I waited, half done with most of the food, thinking about where everyone went, and what to do ‘They were out and about just a second ago, well Alto them went to the Activity room? So Kleef and the others went back to the front? So just wait until we land? And then wait until someone says something? And do, the thing, right?’

Poking my food around my thoughts wandered more ‘What even are we going to do there, it has a million-year-old record, and it’s a planet that’s supposed to be weird, with no real terrain knowledge. I know I’m going to leave the ship, but shouldn’t I be doing something to help?’ “Hmm? What would I even help with? I don’t know anything about this place anyways?” Words spoke aloud answering my own questions, deciding to take another bite, going back to my thoughts ‘Well, it’s a planet. So just, walk about, collect things, don’t get lost? I can do that, but so can everyone else. Hmmm?’

Grumbling I poked down, hearing a small tick as my fork hit plate, looking down it seemed I had finished eating “And, there goes that distraction. But at least I’m full, I think?” Looking outside to space a sigh left as I thought about home ‘I just have to not get in the way, just gotta keep alert, and stay foc-' “Hello Lavrence. Enjoying zpace?” Words blipped in my translator startling my thoughts, fighting back a jolt I slowly turned, seeing it was just Lopasis “Oh. Uh? Yea, just thinking about home.” Their leaves shook as they nodded “Reminizcing about home iz quite normal. Had a nice meal?”

Remembering my plates existence was a small surprise “Oh right, I did eat. It was nice, how does it work exactly?” I asked pointing at the panels, not wanting to make it awkward “Oh. Vell, the machine itzelf haz variouz microbez that fuze together zmall particlez of food groupz. From there it reconztructz the dezired output uzing your choicez, and replicatez the matter on hov you zpecify. The utenzilz, and platez are juzt zetz bought vith the machine.” They quickly explained the process, most of it flying over my head “So… it’s a food maker?” “Exactly.” “Oh, Ok. So, what brings you out. And about. In the ship.” The last words fumbled out, still wanting but now making it awkward.

“Vell, I had vanted to check up on equipment. Make zure everything iz tezted before ve land. Vould you vant to come vith? You vould have to do a trial before ve fully land anyvay.” They asked shifting light blue petals, turning as they tapped the screen, and selecting a drink for themselves. ‘Well, good to know that was planned’ “Yea, but where do I put my plates?” I raised both, which they offered to take. “You zimply tap the zcreen, input plate and cup amount, and place. Quick and zimple.” Words beamed in a small blue green glow, as they demonstrated, placing my items inside, all rotating away.

“It’s quite a nice machine. Did you build it?” I asked fully expecting a yes at this point, they only laughed, shaking some petals with a wave “Oh no, thiz vaz bought by Kleef. Though, they did do mozt maintenance on it, so it’z vell kept by our Captain.” Giving a quick hum I rose to my feet “That’s interesting, are these normal on ships, we didn’t have a briefing of it on earth.” Lopasis poured the glass of water on their deep blue face, vibrating as it darkened slightly, before tapping the screen. “Vell, not normal. Vhen Kleef bought it, it vaz a tezter prototype, during that time lezz than 0.1% of zhipz had them. Nov about 3% of zhipz houze theze unitz.”

They placed their cup, giving a turn and walking at the end, quickly following I hummed with a nod, watching the petals shift with each step. “That’s good, it does seem to be quite in depth.” “That vaz vhat Kleef vorked on the hardezt, they zcoured for many modulez CPPZ, the company, made. Zurprizingly humanz vere the hardezt to tune.” “Humans were? Makes sense, we do eat about anything.” “Indeed. Zo many optionz interlinked vith other zpeciez, the amount of timez our Captain had to recheck everything after changing one human item. It vaz quite a fev ztardayz before ve left ztation.” They laughed as I joined in, as we walked past a door. “Yea, that would cause problems, also what is a starday?” “Day relative to clozezt ztar, ve change our clockz vhenever ve land. Zo, ve vill have to come the nev planet.” We stopped at a door one down from the activity room, Lopasis typing in a five-digit passcode, before it slid open.

Entering as the lights turned on, I looked at all the items scattered against the wall, on the floor, shelves or hanging on the wall “Speaking of the new planet, are you worried?” They tapped container against the nearest wall with a key card, as it opened up before quickly taking out two tablets “Vell, of course I am vorried. All planetz and travelz bring vith them potential dizazterz. Mind you, any activity bringz a chance of dizazter, az zuch I keep myself occupied to alvayz check for zuch thingz.” Answer stated as a tablet was handed my way “Thank you? What is this for?” Tapping their blank screen twice Lopasis gave a wave around the room, petals shaking from the motion “Eaziest vay of recording everything, juzt tap tvice and chooze the crate icon. From there enter pazzcode 5173 and you’ll zee my zcreen.” Explanation demonstrated as I executed, being brought to a spreadsheet filled with items.

Giving a nod Lopasis checked over the first crate, pressing everything as they flashed on and off “Everything zhould be regiztered, main thingz are checking if they are ztill here, vhich givez one tick. And checking if they are fully functional, vhich givez tvo tickz. If not here or vorking then give the zame amount of X’z.” More explanations shown as they gave two final ticks, closing the crate; looking down I saw the double ticked tablets, wireless pens, gps scanners, droids, AR and VR goggles, body camera and lights.

Nodding, we looked into the second crate seeing “Polarized gogglez one through five, unpolarized gogglez one through four, zelf trackerz one through ten, wirelezz communicatorz one through six.” All I ticked as they counted off, giving a check over and nod before closing the crate. Lopasis pointed to the shelf above, as I pulled down three different ropes “Zcaling rope, check for kinkz or tearz. Nilon rope, check for vater or veaknezz. Aramid rope, check for cutz or tearz.” Giving a general check of everything I saw nothing wrong, each got two ticks and placed back.

Right beside were two shelves filled with books “Thiz iz more a general item, ve lable them az guidez. They have information on mozt organic and inorganic life, medical aid per zpeciez, terrain landmarkz, galactic diplomatic hiztoriez and changez, galactic languagez and culturez, planetary ecoztudiez.” Leaf green hands pointed to the sectioned areas of both “Huh, that’s a lot of books, do we have to memorize them?” They laughed, waving a hand as their petals shook “Oh no. Mozt itemz vere brought vhen Bett and Lezz joined, after that ve all got in the habit of getting one nev book every rezt ztop.” “Oh? Wait, who’s Lezz?” “Nottalizh, just a small nick name.”

Walking to another area, Lopasis handed me the key card taking out a second for themselves “You have the bazic understanding, so ve vill divide. If you have queztionz I’ll try to have anzverz.” They reassured beaming a light blue green “Alright, I’ll make sure it’s checked over.” Words said as I tapped the crate, we watched it open as they left; looking within I checked over bolts, harnesses, helmets, hexes, nuts, picks, pitons, pullies and slings. Giving both a look and feel before all received two ticks, closing the crate looking over to the one beside it. Tapping I checked over the carbon-fiber plating, first aid kit, medical bags, respiratory masks, resuscitator, pulse oximeter, thermal blanket, trauma blanket, and slings; all were checked and ticked as I looked to Lopasis “Lopa?” “Yez?” “Does it get confusing having two items labelled sling?” Tapping their tablet they walked to the furthest wall “Not really, one zling is by itzelf, the other iz attached to pulliez. Though, Kleef did offer the zame queztion vhen ve firzt made the lizt. Changing might good, if you find any other overlapz do tell.” Checking over items while speaking.

Dark brown chests stacked along the wall, rowing three racks of two. “What are these?” Lopasis looked across to me “Ah, thoze are our perzernal ztorage. Apologize.” They blipped unlabelled on my, as Lopasis tapped their screen “I, per rule, cannot discloze vho iz vhoze. Forgot they vere on that zide.” “Ah. That makes sense. Which is mine?” Lopasis tapped their screen a few times, before a blip of my name appeared by a chest. “Middle right rov. Kindly do not dizcloze thiz information unlezz needed in emergency, thiz iz an agreement of general zafety and security.” “Sir yes sir.” I saluted, getting a head tilt “Oh, humanz actually zay that?” “Well, yea. Half serious half joke, like a real fake.” “A vhat?”

“Human joke, don’t worry.” Chuckling I opened the chest, with all my knickknacks still there. “Hmm, might change up the room when we get back from the planet.” Quickly taking out a framed picture and chain. “Zpeaking of, hov are you enjoying the room?” “It’s spacious, I can pace, lay down, or watch the stars stream by. So, quite lovely actually, I’ve always wanted to do this.” Lopasis shimmered, moving to another section. “I’m ecztatic hearing that, you’ve alzo bonded vith the crev zo zvell in just four and half hourz.” “Huh? It’s been that long? Or is that short, hmmm. Time didn’t flow for me, especially since there’s no sun. No wait, suns are stars. Wow this a lot.”

Lopasis put down their tablet stepping close “Are you alright?” “Yea? Just, been thinking a lot. And a lot happened, and there’s a lot of people, or aliens? Species? Look, I’m alright.” I tried to finalize, as Lopasis’ eyes sprouted. “Have you had a rezt today?” “Well, kinda? Every now and then nothing would happen, then something. But, it wasn’t a lot or anything, so it’s fine.” “Had zomething happened today?” “What? No. Well, nothing but just me thinking and I guess overthinking. I don’t know situations are awkward sometimes.” “Zituationz? Lopasis echoed.

“Well, I make things awkward, and I don’t know I think about it, and try not to make it more awkward and then I think it works out, but then I think about that. And I don’t know, I’m worried if I offended them.” “Offended vho?” Rolling my hands I tried to think specifically “Someone, anyone. You say I bonded well, but I just tried to follow what they were doing, and even at first with Nottalish I thought he hated me, but he’s super nice.” “That iz a fair primary and zecondary interaction with Lezz.” Lopasis added. “And Rousptera…” Lopasis squinted “Did zomething happen vith you tvo?” “Well. No, but I think I thought something might? And made them worried they did something. And maybe caused Kleef to say something to them. And maybe I won’t be able to be friends with them.” I rambled as my hands whirled, only slowing down at the end.

“O…Oh?” Lopasis glowed with the word “I zee nov, vell, vhile I don’t knov vhat happened that doez explain Kleef zeeming different after a zhip zcan.” My face paled “So he did see us? Oh no, do you know what he said. Was he angry?” My panic rising “Angry? No, maybe upzet. But-” They added stopping my reply “-Kleef had talked vith, and underztood Rouzptera’z zide. The manner I do not knov, but haz calmed him.” “O…Oh, alright. Thank you.” I calmed down, still rushing from panic “Um, did Rousptera say anything to you?” Lopasis closed their eyes. “Well, Rouzptera did vant me to check on you. But, mainly mentioned you valking into a panel, and an apology. I think I underztand the latter part nov.” “Yea, I did walk into a panel. I was trying to make the situation unawkward, it. Yea.”

“Do you need medical aide?” “Nah, it wasn’t that serious. Just the old noggin taking a hit. I’ve been through worse.” I laughed but Lopasis didn’t join in. “Lavrence, I do not underztand theze human jokez. Are they all thiz oddly roundabout?” “Not all, a lot of mine are. But then I just mash different joke genres together, see how they get lost from my brain to my mouth, and let it play.” Lopasis tried to laugh. “That vaz a good one.” “That wasn’t a joke, that was a genuine explanation.” “Ah, I can zee vhy you bonded so vell vith everyone.” Lopasis lightly glowed “Why?” “You’re quite eazy to talk to, I enjoy vhen you let yourzelf talk. It addz to any conversation.” I didn’t reply.

After a few second of staring Lopasis’ glow began to fade “Are you alright Lavrence?” “Yea. You just gave such a genuine complement I needed a few seconds to factory reset and process it. But thank you, that means a lot.” Lopasis spot lighted the room, receeding back to a dim oceanic blur. “Of courze. I vill alvayz be genuine and honest, it iz proven to be mozt helpful in many cazez.” “Wow a complement dispenser, and fusion cell collector. What can’t you do.” Lopasis hummed, turning to grab their tablet “I cannot vorry about my crev, and the zhip at the zame time. You are alvayz firzt priority.” They blipped a few more items “Alzo, az ve don’t have much itemz left, juzt to confirm. You are alright.” “Correct.” “Nothing iz ailing you?” “Nope.” “Iz there anything you vant to talk about, even vith Rouzptera.”

Focusing on the day, I tried to find more questions “Nothing really? Um, did you suspect Rousptera did something, or think it was more serious?” “Oh, no. No, no no. Rouzptera is the gentlezt of crevmatez you could find. He lovez to learn and inveztigate, but iz quite avare of boundariez and limitz. Hiz speciez, zimilar to mine, can feel the zhift in chemicalz and changez in frequenciez through the air around uz.” “Oh, that makes sense for you guys. Wait you can tell when I’m anxious?” I focused at the end “In a zenze, yez. Though, you’ve been anxiouz all day, zo it’z been quite muddled. I perzonally haven’t been focuzed on it, just noted itz prezence and zhiftz. Rouzptera is zlightly lezz zensitive with zcentz, but better in temperature and frequency fluctuationz.” Sighing I slumped against a shelf “How nice to know my anxiety was known all day.” Lopasis checked more items off “Vell, did you expect to be calm? You vere put vith a nev zhip, crev, outfit, tazkz and responzibilitiez. Did you expect to be relaxed in your firzt hourz?”

“Yea? Well, no. But, I didn’t want to make anyone worried, so I tried to just keep at it?” Lopasis rounded closer to my side “Vell, everyone iz going to be vorried about you. Ve vorry about each other all the time, that’z vhat being a crev iz. Making zure everyone iz alright, zo they don’t have to be vorried alone.” “Yea. But, like. I don’t know, I was overthinking a lot.” “You did indeed zay that. Then may I remove a vorry?” “Sure?” Lopasis clicked through the last items, waving for me to follow to the front “You didn’t make anything avkvard, everyone’s been talking about your achievementz and hov much they enjoyed interacting vith you.” “But, I didn’t do anything yet, I just got here.” “Exactly, you’ve just gotten here. Imagine vhat ztoriez you’ll create vhen you do zomething.”

Lopasis glimmered, tapping the container and placing their tablet inside. I stood there, letting the words sink in ‘I’ve done nothing, everyone has been here so long. And now I get to be here with them, I get to go on adventures and do whatever I want.’ The excitement whelmed within “Alright, thank you. That did help a lot.” “I can tell. Quite poverful joy you’ve got there.” Lopasis joked, taking my tablet. “What, this old thing? Nah, I bet you say that to all the serotonin you meet.” I fanned my cheeks, faking embarrassment as Lopasis laughed louder. “Vho knovs, thiz type iz quite zoothing, I rather enjoy it.” “O…Oh?” True embarrassment flushed up, Lopasis leaves tilting in response “Oh, zomething nev?” “Uhhhhhhhhhh, hey when do we land by the way?” I desperately tried to change the subject.

“Hmmm? I think three more hourz until landing. You really zhould rezt before though Lavrence.” “Yea, maybe. I just keep learning so much from everyone, so it’s hard to keep still.” “What did you learn from me?” Petals pointed up “You are way more observant than you let on. I am rethinking so much situations right now.” Lopasis bloomed, pressing a panel to open the door “Of courze, I am the navigator and field medic. Vell, Zecond field medic Notalizh iz primary.” We stepped out, into the still empty corridor “So there are sectioned roles?” “More zpecialized, a preference. You can learn all, but mainly a captian needz to. For crev it’z zimpler zticking to tvo or three. Alto iz zpecialized in all five.” “I am not surprised by that.”

“They are quite good at mozt anything. Eazily picking up and adapting to mozt zituationz.” “Yea, they did win the Rock-Paper-Scissors game.” “Indeed, their ability to overcome limitationz iz their mozt valuable trait.” Lopasis turned, making way to the kitchen, as I followed “Huh, interesting. So what are all the specialization?” Mumbling words Lopasis tapped their leaves a few times “I think the order iz field medic, explorer, engineer, navigator, and armz zpecializt. In terms of what iz trained firzt.” We stopped by the table “Oh, so field medic training is also storage training?” “In a zenze, the bezt vay of learning hov to aide. Iz knoving vhat iz available, and keeping important itemz ztocked. But, thiz izn’t a training zezzion, juzt debriefing.” Lopasis stepped over, dispensing another cup of water from the panels.

Placing my chain and picture on the table, then looking out the window to spacy abyss I thought on everything “So. Would I be trained for explorer when we land?” “Potentially. Or any of the otherz, I zimply lizted the recommended order ve zet, if you feel ready to learn one primarily, that iz alzo up to you.” “Huh, you know it’s a lot less imposing now that I know what to expect.” Lopasis paused their water pour, tilting to look at me “Did your planet not inform you of the zpecializationz for thiz zhip?” I gave a shrug and head shake “So far, everyone knows more than me about what I should know. I didn’t even get a translator until I stepped on board.” “Your zpeciez becomez increazingly alarming vith each added information.” Lopasis poured their drink, tapping for another.

“Yea. That’s humans, the more you learn about us. The more you wish you didn’t know. Like our oceans.” “Vhat about your oceanz?” “Do you really want to test your hubris again? Have you not learned from actions passed?” “…Vaz that a human joke?” Laughing I walked beside Lopasis to the panel, tapping for my own drink “I’ll let you decide that yourself.” Grabbing my cup, I sat back in my original spot.

Lopasis hummed for a second “Vell, thiz haz been quite an informative interaction. I can zee vhat you mean by learning a lot from everyone.” “Oh yea, what did you learn about me?” I excitedly pointed to myself. “You're unique. I cannot quite explain it, but. I am alvayz learning zomething about you, and I never knov vhat vill come next. Maybe interezting might be a better vord?” Slightly dejected I settled back in my seat “Ah, so still just unique and interesting. Yippie.” I twirled a finger with the word.

“Apologiez, did I offend you?” Lopasis worried. “No. I just always got told I was unique, interesting and special all my life. It never really meant anything growing up, and I never understood why it was all I got. It’s not offensive, just thought I was something more than, the different kid.” Honest words pushed past, as I looked to the framed picture. “I didn’t knov. I’m zorry, I can think of better vordz.” Waving the matter off I sat properly in the seat again. “Nah. You literally couldn’t have known. And besides, what I learned about you wasn’t much of anything. So just even assessments of first few talks.”

Lopasis gave another long hum “You alvayz find the vordz to zettle a matter. Then I zhall vorry no longer, but vhen I do find proper vordz I vill tell you vhat I learned.” They pressed the screen, making a panel turn, depositing their cup. “I’ll take that offer. And when I can, I’ll do the same. Watch, I’ll out observe you.” Lopasis gave a wave and laugh “I don’t knov, I might have an advantage with my eyez and senzez. You might be learned firzt.” Their five eyes grew at the mention. “Oh yea? I’ll hyper analyze you until you get stuck in my mind. Then, I’ll have the advantage of only thinking about you.” I pointed to them feeling triumphant, taking a sip of my drink.

Lopasis froze for a moment, eyes glued to me “I didn’t expect you to go that far for me. Zurely there are other thingz that dezerve your full attention.” Confused I replayed the conversation, trying to understand the reaction ‘It’s just hyper fixating? Little brain rot on Lopasis only…’ “Ohhhhh. I didn’t think my words through.” I admitted out loud, getting more laughter from Lopasis “Even though it’s not the best vord. I ztill think interezting fitz for right nov, talking vith you is alvayz great fun.” My mind stuttered at the complement “Why are your words so genuine and nice. I can’t handle such positivity so close, I might barf out sunshine soon.” I tried to hide by taking another drink.

“Alright, I zhall contain my honezty for nov. I must return to the helm, and make zure everything there iz recorded. Do try to rezt before ve land, a lot haz happened today, giving your body a moment of break vould help.” Lopasis nudged out, closing their eyes. “I will. I mainly came out here to eat earlier, so resting should be easy. Oh-" I called out as they turned away “-Thank you again. For everything today, it was also nice talking about my worries.” Lopasis gave a curtsy, beaming bright “I am happy to have aided you. And never feel like you can’t come to me. I’ll alvayz be here to talk and lizten.” With a final wave they turned, walking into the next corridor.

Staring at the wall, I waited until the door sounded open then close, before slumping back into my chair ‘That was so nerve wracking. How are they so easy to talk to, yet intimidating at the same time. And their reactions, even when they were concerned. Like, man… But, at least a lot of my stress is gone. And I got answers.’ I gave a long, slow sigh “I’m so tired. Maybe I should sleep, they did keep reminding me.”

With another sigh I arose, finishing my water and sending the cup away. Grabbing the framed photo and chain I returned back, the hallway was still clear with muffled mummers barely picked out behind walls. My room door appearing as I tapped in the code, the sanitized smell unaffecting my nose as I stepped in. Placing the picture and chain on the table, I flopped onto the bed, fixing the sheet atop me. “Alright. I’m tired. So I can’t keep thinking, just gotta drift off to slumber town. Easy, just try to relax, and don’t even think ab-" my words cut out as I fell asleep, thoughts drifting away as my body settled into bed.

[rubywolf0201]

Some things I want to change in the Penacony story arc

DISCLAIMER: *As much as I do like some parts of the Penacony arc, I feel that we should address some of the problems this particular planet has and what are the changes I would make*

- First and foremost is giving Aventurine, Boothill, Robin and Sunday melanin. The former two are Romani and Native American respectively and the latter two because they’re the only Penacony natives among the playable characters that we have and Penacony is supposed to be based off the Jazz age which is the culture for black people.

- Expand on Gallagher and Misha a little more rather than just have them be plot expositors.

- Give Misha more scenes in between 2.1-2.2 and foreshadow the Ena’s Dream thing a little more.

- Sparkle and Aven can still have a rivalry with each other but make Sparkle less racially insensitive and instead have her remark about Aven’s position within the Ten Stonehearts like she can call him ‘Stoneheart boy’ or something fun, pompous but demeaning like ‘Stonehead’ or something. (Sorry not good with that but I just wanted something to go along with her playful and devious nature)

- The plan that Ratio and Aven cooked up against Sunday was a pretty good plot but like with Sparkle, have Ratio’s (initial) insult against Aven regarding his race and heritage be removed. (I mean even if it was just an act put up by both men, I still think it’s disingenuous of Hoyo to make one character insult another character’s race and heritage)

- Black Swan is alright so far so she can stay.

- Same goes for Acheron too since she’s pretty good so far.

- Firefly and SAM are also in a good position so they can stay too.

- I would cut out some unecessary portion of the story during 2.1-2.2.

- Gopher Wood should’ve been the main villain that the AE crew should’ve fought against. Much as I enjoy Sunday being an antagonist, I think he would’ve worked better as being Gopher Wood’s pawn and with the help of the AE and Robin, they would band together to stop him.

- Gopher Wood’s defeat would be an antithesis of Cocolia’s defeat. Instead of someone who was manipulated by the Stellaron for a decade, regaining some conscious and heroically sacrifice herself, Gopher Wood would be defeated by the AE train (lol) and be deleted permanently.

- Of course, despite banding together, Sunday would still be taken in by the IPC because he is still responsible for the villainy and all that. (Robin’s mini sidequest post 2.2 would still be kept and still acknowledge just how little she knew about the things Sunday went through due to her work and all that)

- I’m okayish on Aventurine’s character and but not the racism behind it in his backstory and such. I do wish to change it but I’ll just leave it to Aven mains to cook up something so as long as it doesn’t involve racism in it.

- Speaking of Aven, I’m not going to lie when I said I was underwhelmed that the Cornerstones for Jade and Topaz doesn’t have the same power that Aven has but I still think they should have some kind of transformative power when they activate it.

- Like Jade’s for example. When she activated it, she should have some sort of reptilian features to showcase her snake motif and maybe like a third ‘eye’.

- Not to sure on Topaz since we don’t see what her Cornerstone power is like so I’ll probably leave it alone.

- Also, I would revamp some parts of the sidequests like the Cocona and Tiozanic sidequest for example.

- With Cocona’s, I wouldn’t add the option to let her commit su*cid3 and instead have the player convince her to follow her dreams. Oh and rename her into something (that doesn’t sound racist and colorist) more convenient like Rhonda for example.

- Tiozanic is fine but I wouldn’t let the aftermath of the sidequest have someone taking over her role, like yeah she was decent person initially but she still committed gen0c*d3 and is a terrorist despite being ‘changed’.

[ironmyrmidon]

I've been reading Dungeon Meshi, and I think it would be super easy to turn it into a TTRPG Module or video game RPG. Dungeon Meshi is clearly very heavily influenced by RPGs. I think DnD 5e would be a natural fit, and not just because that's the one RPG whose rules I can remember clearly enough to talk about.

Here's the way I would do it. You could adopt the food radar chart from the manga pretty much unchanged, assigning different foods and spices different nutritional values. Food preparation would be based on a Wisdom-based Cook's Utensils check, where failure means the food is ruined during the process. would keep DCs low, say 5 for simple food (Roasts, Stews), 10 for more complicated food (Bread, Omelettes), and 15 for specialty dishes (Mousse, Souffle). A player who is proficient with Cook's Utensils and has help from another player for advantage should be able to successfully cook most of the time. After all, ruining the food should be an exception that puts players into unexpectedly difficult situations, not something that's frustratingly common.

Then, if your players don't eat 3 square meals or fail to meet their nutritional needs, they have to start making hunger checks (increasingly difficult Con saves) or start racking up points of exhaustion. I added in the Con saves to make it less likely that the party all becomes exhausted at once, letting characters who can resist the exhaustion for a while help carry the characters who can't until they can replenish their food supplies or escape to the surface. If you want to make your game especially accurate to the manga, you could give dwarves disadvantage on hunger checks.

I thought you might have to ban spells like Goodberry, but I think instead we can use the nutrition system to handle them. The expanded nutrition wheels that are used in the second half of the manga have 9 nutritional values, so I think fulfilling 1 nutritional need per spell level seems fair. Therefore, see this list:

Goodberry (Lvl 1): Energy*

Create Food and Water (Lvl 3): Energy, Protein, Carbs

Heroes' Feast (Lvl 5): All 9 Nutritional Needs**

Magnificent Mansion (Lvl 7): Energy, Calcium, Iron, Pick 2 of (Protein, Fat, Carbs), and Pick 2 of (Vit A, Vit B2, Vit C)

*Berries are nutritious, but a single berry is not gonna have much of anything.

**This is a level 5 spell, but it costs 1000 gold to cast. It's not exactly an inexhaustible source of food, but the food is supernaturally wholesome, so I think we should boost its nutritional values. Don't give your players too much gold though.

I have a few other considerations. Carrying capacity should probably be used, because how much food you can carry is important to how far you can explore. The dungeon's town should give players access to most spells, services, gear, and especially food stuffs for the right amount of cash, since the dungeon makes the town prosperous.

You can also bring over the resurrection crews, but that's a post for another day.

[aresmarked]

Some General Gridbuilding Notes

so since i've seen a number of folk be like 'how do' about putting a grid together, and now that we know the next guild war's element, i figure it'd be a good time to kinda broadly go over how you can use what the game easily provides, as well as general public resources/references to help you figure out what you should be aiming for to help you bolster your gridpower. Within the context of wind grids to help people see.

If people want I can also talk about broader pieces that sort of fall out of pure 'grid build' talk but are important to know about (e.g. Huanglong for OTK)? But I'm going to try to keep this focused, and expand out if people feel ask.

So! We're gonna focus primarilyon a very helpful feature that was added. So helpful most of my crew was like, wow, they're practically throwing these at new players: Sierokarte's Knickknack Academy. Generally speaking, obtaining the equipment they recommend will set you up very solidly across all elements. I, for one, would have killed to have had two 4* Grimnir spoons (Coruscant Croziers) tossed in my lap for beating Ygg Omega and uncapping Temperance and Judgement when I was farming to finish my M2 grid.

But if you're like me you want to know more about why they recommend the grid/summons they do, as the final goal in the academy. Further elaboration beneath the cut.

Here we see a Tiamat M1 gun, two m2 Grimnir harps, two m2.5 Grim spoons, the Exo spear and fist, a bahamut weapon, the wind Dark Opus (opus henceforth) and seraphic weapon.

If you want to see more math about the damage calculation formula, I encourage you to check out this guide that explains it in a fairly accessible manner. The long and short of it though, is that with this grid, Tiamat 5* as main summon, and Tiamat as friend summon (AKA double magna/Tia x Tia), you get guaranteed crit, and a good spread of normal, magna, and EX skill boosts to avoid diminishing returns too.

I equipped the grid to a random party to show some numbers. The calculator may look a bit different depending on your characters as well, but you can see some of the different mods that the weapons provide.

Specifically of note in this grid, the two Grim harps and two spoons are what give me the guaranteed crit. Their crit related modifiers combine, and are boosted by the fact I'm using Tiamat summon as my main and friend summon. If I change my friend summon to say, Grimnir instead of Tiamat...

You can see that the magna/omega mods and crit are quite a bit less. 89% crit chance is, not bad, per se, but 1) if you're not looking to guarantee crit you might throw in some different weapons instead, and 2) the in-game calculator can't 'tell' you what mostly critting will look like, it'll show you autos that aren't critting. Which is why 95+% crit is pretty much guaranteed crit but may look off.

(Another thing to note is that the in-game calculator only really looks at auto damage. Which is why if your team is say, skill or ougi focused the calculator again may not represent the damage you will do. Test things out!)

So this grid is predominantly magna modifiers. The weapons that aren't: the Exo weapons, the Bahamut weapon, and seraphic. Let's look closer at each:

The Exo weapons provide Ex modifiers (and my fist has some bonus from AX skills, but we aren't worrying about those rn), the bahamut weapon has normal boost tied to types of characters in the team, and the seraphic has amplify (and some normal as well). Their boosts are multiplied onto the magna boosts (which add to each other), dramatically improving the damage you can get.

In summary: when you're not sure about the specific needs for a raid, starting with a magna base and then adding a weapon that offers each other type of boost is a solid start.

Seraphic is especially important because it's probably the most straightforward way to break through damage cap, because of how it's applied to damage dealt. It basically will not leave your grid regardless of raid (until seraphic key on ultima. but if you have seraphic key on ultima you probably know what you're doing by now).

Opus. Saved for last because it'll probably have the most rambling. They are huge, the two different ones are core to both magna and primal players respectively, if you don't have it in you're losing a huge amount of power and flexibility. Once you have it you'd pretty much only take it out to put in draconic for survivability purposes.... and with draconic upgrades, perhaps eventually put both. Gasp!

Uncapping your opus to 4*, not too hard with the Academy grids. It'll just ask you to hit some raids that by and large you can just farm publically. It's the 5* uncap that is a bigger ask, and is meant to be your intro to high-level raids in Granblue. I would rec checking Diamonit's FaaHL guide if you are considering getting your opus 5* uncapped. It's old, but true, and doing FaaHL 'properly' will teach you a lot about endgame and building for specific raids.

Obligatory Bolded Note: yes the game has progressed to the point where probably, you can make a team to solo FA it down now, or join someone else who can. I do it myself! But I've also done the raid myself, 'properly'. At this point you must understand that you are getting closer to the current level of raids where leeching is frowned upon, and prioritising say, mashing through a raid and f'ing up someone else because they didn't have the time to setup properly will mean the whole raid is fucked, or that you've denied them rewards. Please, just be aware of what a raid is asking, and prepare yourself to contribute that helps everyone involved. If you're not learning it now, be prepared to learn later, for a much harder raid.

Going to pause here cause I'm moving past 'basics', but yea. I hope this was of some use to someone. If you've questions about this, or perhaps other aspects (e.g. arcarum summons, eternals/evokers, OTKs for Ex/Ex+) feel free to ask! I or someone else can definitely explain. Granblue is a dense game, deeply crunchy, but very rewarding IMO, and i hope this has helped untangle a bit of it! o/

[dandywonderous]

i love how people make sanuso and you showing me this trio.. idk my brain is expanding

I'm really sad that I got into Sanji/Nami/Usopp so late into my serious OP fan days because it means I only wrote one fic for it and honestly I should have been out here pushing my rare trio from the beginning because IT'S SO GOOD

like I'm already drawn to any combo of pairings between the original East Blue Crew to begin with because like... I love all the characters a lot (especially Robin) but there's something about the OG five, like they're the ones who faced Arlong together, they're the ones who entered the Grand Line together, like there's something just special about that, an experience you can't take away.

but then combining those three in particular...

first of all I feel like they fit for me because they are like the most... Normal People (tm) of the Straw Hats (this is a very relative designation lol). and I feel like most people would agree with that for Nami and Usopp but Sanji is a harder sell, because he's part of the monster trio, and he has an absolutely insane backstory, BUT 1) Sanji has the most Normal Job, he's done actual work under a boss, he's been a waiter, 2) Sanji's True Insane Backstory came so late in the game it can't erase the decade+ of him being just the guy who wears Doskoi Panda aprons and washes dishes and is just Real Good At Kicking for some reason. and like in general Sanji's reactions to things happening usually line up more with Nami and Usopp's in terms of like, reacting like a normal person to the insane shit that is happening all the time, even if he knows he can kick the insane shit in the face

also there's just the fact that Usopp is afraid of everything but not bugs, while Nami and Sanji are terrified of bugs, which is especially funny in Sanji's case, like Usopp is already filling a crucial spot in the dynamic here as "partner that gets rid of spiders"

ANYWAY UH

Usopp and Nami especially as the most Normal People (tm) have a really strong bond and you also always get the vibe that the two of them probably spend a lot of time dishing gossip with each other while between islands, like Usopp and Nami definitely vibe with each other when Usopp isn't acting like one of the kids. and it's easy to slot Sanji into that catty dynamic, too. also while Sanji still has a very "ew men" attitude toward Usopp, it's always felt a bit more dialed back? maybe it's just because if Sanji actually kicked Usopp for real he would turn every bone in Usopp's body to dust LOL but there's lots of moments of Sanji just interacting very cutely with Usopp, and they'll dance together and stuff like that, IDK IT'S ADORABLE I have always loved them platonically and the romantic step of SanUso was kind of obvious

and then I already shipped SaNa before so that all slots together

and they have lots of great moments as a trio, I haven't been caught up with OP in years so there's probably even more I don't know about, but obvious ones off the top of my head are everything that happens in Skypiea and a good chunk of Thriller Bark.

this post is very rambly and probably doesn't make a lot of sense but my point is that this threesome just Works for me. it's cute. I want them to smooch.